Dynamic analysis of a vehicle-bridge coupled system considering river scouring

Dynamic performance of a bridge is influenced by river scouring. In order to study the effect of river scouring on vehicle-bridge interacted vibration, the erosion depth of pile group foundation was calculated. Considering the variation of equivalent stiffness of foundation induced by river scouring, a vehicle-bridge coupled dynamic model based on a full process iteration was established. In a case study, the dynamic response of the vehicle-bridge system and the running safety of trains before and after river scouring were contrasted. The results showed that for a railway bridge located in a river or tidewater, the vehicle-bridge model considering river scouring is proposed to analyze the vehicle-bridge interacted vibration; after river scouring, all bottom surfaces of pile caps are above the river bed, and the equivalent stiffness of the foundation decreases significantly, the lateral responses of both simply supported bridges and vehicles increase obviously, the running safety of trains may be influenced.